The village of Amelia council met on Jan. 17 in front of another packed meeting room of infuriated citizens to handle a variety of business matters. Highlights included:
– During an organizational meeting, which was held directly before the council meeting, council members Regina Rumke and Clayton Fite were appointed to the newly formed Revitalization of Main Street Committee.
Fite was nominated to the vice mayor position, which is currently held by council member Derrick Campbell, but he turned it down. Then, council member Doug Fischer was nominated to the position, which he accepted, and the council approved.
The council heard a memo from Kathleen Ryan, village solicitor, on amendments to the rules of the council for meetings.
“Primarily, what the changes are, they’re a series of very minor, non-substantive changes,” she explained.
For example, the changes note that executive sessions should be held out of order from legislation as a courtesy to the public who may not want to wait through executive session. Also, questions from the public related to the agenda be can emailed to council members the Monday before council meetings to allow council members to respond without consuming a public speaker’s three minutes.
– Campbell was absent from the meeting.
– During the fire chief report, Mark Fyfe, assistant chief, reported that during the month of December 2018, the department responded to 56 incidents, of which eight were fire related and 48 were emergency medical services calls. The department used Narcan, used to treat narcotic overdoses in an emergency situation, twice on patients.
– During the police chief report, Jeff Wood, police chief, reported that during December 2018, the department responded to 391 calls.
He noted that a suspect accused of robbing the Key Bank, located at 18 W Main St., in November 2018, and again the week prior, has been caught and is awaiting trail.
– In a decision that caused an uproar from the audience, the council accepted the recommendation of the planning commission to rezone parcel numbers 209109.128, at 27.92 acres, and 209109.040, at 4.76 acres, from their current classification of B-1 local business district to R-1 residential district and declared their action an emergency, meaning that they suspended the Ohio Revised Code’s three reading rule, which is intended to give citizens an opportunity to voice their opinions and potential concerns.
David Pommert is the seller of the two parcels.
Joe Farruggia, owner of Beaver Creek Development, plans to build homes on the open land.
Critics of the rezone say the project deprives Amelia of valuable commercial property along village’s corridor.
– During the Mayor’s input portion of the meeting, Mayor Todd Hart delivered his state of the village speech. He opened by saying, “Amelia village has had another great year. Area residents have continued to show tremendous support for businesses in Amelia village.”
– The council issued a proclamation designating Jan. 20 – 26, 2019, as “Amelia School Choice Week,” in the village.
– The council adopted a new social media policy.
“This particular social media policy is pretty much drawn from what is the Ohio Electronic Records committee … this particular policy has a couple of sub-parts that form the primary basis of this policy,” Ryan explained.
The first part will guide those within the different departments of the village on how to manage social media accounts that are village social media accounts, including the scope of what is appropriate and responses to messages.
The policy also specifies how the social media records will fit into the records retention policy, Ryan explained.
“Public document requests tied to any sort of social media page would also have to be considered consistent with this policy,” she said.
– During the public comment period of the meeting, numerous speakers from the packed meeting room spoke to once again address ongoing concerns they have with village leaders and policies.
Resident Doug McCoy stood up to passionately speak out about the rezone that council approved earlier in the meeting. He directed his comments to Pommert.
“Sir, your commercial realtor, he’s self-serving. That developer that was in here, he’s self-serving. You’re going to sell your property, and you’re going to be out of here. [The council] is using loopholes in the ORC to pass this under an emergency. We are the residents here; we’re the ones that have to deal with this. We’re the ones that have to live here,” he said. “They talk about the school system; those kids are having their classes onstage in the gym. They’re overflowing.”
He added, “We need our voice in this, not them passing it as an emergency.”
Resident Dani Spiegel echoed McCoy’s sentiments.
“I’m very disappointed. Those people do not live in the village, and all they’re looking for is money in their pocket,” she said. “I have talked to many people in this community who are wondering why you’re doing this as a residential property. That is your prime business property.”
Other speakers spoke on numerous other issues, many of which are carried over from 2018:
– If the proposed residential development moves forward, how will it impact area traffic?
– If the proposed residential development moves forward, how will it impact the schools, which are already nearly at capacity?
– Why does the village council keep passing legislation and declaring it an emergency?
Ryan responded that in the case of the rezone ordinance, the words ‘declaring it an emergency’ were left off of the agenda because, as she put it, it was “a typo.”
– Concerns about residents parking their own cars on the grass at their home.
– That the council meeting had to be held in the police station because the administrative building still isn’t compliant with access available laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
– Why did village officials only recently send in the voter approved charter amendments to the Ohio Secretary of State to be certified?
Ryan said she sent them on Jan. 11.
The charter amendments were approved by voters on Nov. 6, 2018, and those election results were certified on Nov. 26, 2018.
Ohio’s Constitution requires village officials to send the amended charter to the state for certification within thirty days after adoption by a referendum vote.
– In turn, based on what resident Renee Gerber described as the mayor’s violation of the state constitution, she asked Fischer to start procedures for voting the mayor out.
Fischer did not proceed with the request.
During the village of Amelia council meeting on Jan. 17, 2019, the council approved rezoning parcel numbers 209109.128, at 27.92 acres, and 209109.040, at 4.76 acres, from their current local business classification to a residential classification. David Pommert, pictured, is the seller of the two parcels.
Critics of the rezone, including resident Tim Rosser, pictured, say the project deprives Amelia of valuable commercial property along village’s corridor.